Painting, Upgrading, And Organizing The Nursery Closet

As you may remember, our nursery closet left a lot to be desired. Yup, this tiny nook (which can’t be expanded thanks to ductwork on the left and the back of our living room fireplace on the right) was in need of a serious upgrade. But we were determined not to spend over thirty-ish bucks to take it from terrible to sweet and organized. What? We’re cheap.

First my smart (and surprisingly design savvy) hubby suggested that we paint it the same soft aqua color as the ceiling to make it a bit more fun- especially since we removed the door because it constantly banged up against the main door to the room (check out the rest of our nursery paint job right here).

Then we put the original clothing bar and shelf back in and painted them a nice crisp semi-gloss white color. And next we hung a little homemade curtain to instantly cute things up (see how we DIYed that right here).

Then we added a few storage solutions and a second hanging bar… and now it looks like this:

Now granted we hung every single item of baby clothing that we have so far- many of which we’ll probably store folded in our newly refinished dresser (our friends and family are insanely generous). But we just couldn’t resist the urge to fill the bean’s closet up with her pint-sized clothes after we added a bunch of organizational systems – you know, just to see if they worked.

First we’ll show you how we created the little custom hanging cubbies on either side of the top clothing bar. They’re actually shoe organizers from Ikea but we got them on the house (a friend of ours was purging and sent us home with two of them- thanks Kristin!). But obviously with that newly installed second clothing bar, we didn’t have room for them to hang at full length anymore…

… so we cut them down to size…

… and now they work like a charm. They can be used to house everything from bibs and stockings to onesies and little undies and even socks and burp cloths. Again we’ll probably put a few of those things in our newly refinished dresser but it’s nice to know that our closet not only has space for hanging items but also has small cubby holes to tuck other things into.

And since we mentioned that our sweet friend Kristin actually gave us two of those shoe organizers, we placed one on each side of the top hanging bar for even more stash space (after trimming a bit of length off the second one as well). Of course that one is totally empty thus far, but we keep hearing this rumor that kids come with lots of stuff so we’re sure it won’t stay that way for long…

You’ll also see from the picture above that we stashed a little striped fabric storage box that we already had around the house on the left side of the top shelf of the closet (that’s also empty but we figure it can be used to corral everything from toys or books to extra linens or even blankets when the need arises). And on the right side of that shelf you can see from the photo below that we just folded four of the blankets that we’ve already received (I’m telling you, our friends and relatives are too kind) so they’re easy to grab at a moment’s notice.

The bottom portion of the closet consists of that added second hanging bar that we mentioned (from Home Depot by the way) and a little double tiered shoe rack from Target (which we’ll probably use for Baby P’s shoes when she gets bigger someday, but currently functions as a place to store rolled crib sheets and changing table covers along with even more blankets (the beanette will never be cold!).

You’ll also notice those two blue fabric boxes on top of the shoe rack. They’re actually things that I’ve had for years (originally from Crate & Barrel back in my NYC days). And although I used to use one to store my sewing supplies (aka: a few rarely-used spools of thread and a plethora of iron on Heat & Bond tape) and the other to store iPod cords and other electronics, it was easy to find another box for those items since their punchy turquoise color fit so perfectly with the rest of the nursery. So now they too are empty, but we love that they can easily be used for toys or crayons or legos down the line. Empty bins and boxes = room to grow. Note: we also have a third one, as seen in this post.

And speaking of room to grow, we love that there’s still a little slice of space under the shoe rack on the floor where we can tuck another set of bins and baskets or even store shoes and boots down the line. You know, when the bean’s feet actually touch the floor.

So that’s our little closet overhaul for ya. And since we vowed to do it all on a shoestring (pun semi-intended after all that shoe talk) here’s a budget breakdown for ya:

A plethora of baby clothes, blankets and bibs: courtesy of our sweet friends and family

GRAND TOTAL: $18.36

Not bad right? Especially for something that started out looking so bleak. Plus even if we had to buy those hanging shoe organizers they’re just $6.99 a pop at Ikea, so with two of those we still would have come in at $32.34. Of course that doesn’t include the price of the curtain (which we factored into this curtain making post) or the paint (although that was free since it was leftover from the ceiling). It’s definitely still a sliver of a closet, but with our big double dresser and a bunch of other storage options that we’ll be adding to the room we’re pretty sure that our baby girl will have plenty of places to stash her stuff. And speaking of stuff-stashing, have you guys used anything interesting or unusual to keep your closet organized (Hat boxes? Easter baskets? Recycled cereal boxes?). Or have you adapted anything to make it work (like cutting a storage system down to size )? Spill it.

We ended up with a very similar setup for our nursery (now toddlers’) room closet, except with a shelf above each bar. The hanging shoe holders are perfect for stacks of diapers, boxes of wipes, and the ubiquitous white onesies. Now that we have multiple kids each of the cubby holes has a different size diaper (or pull-up) and it still works great. We had tried putting baskets in them (for aesthetics) but found it really awkward to try and pull them out of the hanging shelf or put them back in so having something that stacks nicely or just fits is the better option. As your bean grows you may find that a door will be needed to stop curious hands or climbing impulses, but for now the curtain looks great. It’s funny that you all settled on bean, our first born was ‘baby half-rice’ (because she was half of the size of a grain of rice when we found out we were pregnant) for most of her time in the womb.

This is really helpful. Although there’s definitely not a wardrobe of tiny clothes to fill it…we’ve got a closet in our office that looks just about the same size. It could definitely use a practical makeover like this one!

i dont think u guys are cheap at all. u are so creative and don’t waste money on unnecessary stuff. i love what u are doing with the nursery!!

i cant wait to finish a part of my master bedroom as nursery section and share it with you. the next door guest room was going to be nursery , but due to my health, i will need a lot of help and my mother will stay with me for a couple of months. so no seperate nursery for now:) may be will have a good infant/toddler bedroom as a 1st birthday gift for my little one.

We think at least initially we’ll keep the curtain swagged to the side, just because it’s easier to grab things that way. But as our girl grows (and potentially hits those messier years) we might change our minds and keep things concealed by letting the curtain hang down naturally. Hope it helps!

The very first thing we did after moving into our house (when we saved up some money) was to have the closet company I was working for install a custom closet. After living there several years, we needed more space, but I didn’t want to add another section of custom closet even if hubby did it. So I bought some wide baskets & had hubby install 2 shelf tracks. The baskets fit right on the baskets – no shelf needed. The baskets are working out great.

cute closet! I use wood wine boxes (I line the insides similar to how you lined your dresser drawers) for extra storage in my closet. I pick them up for free at wine stores or at Costco (yes, I am a fellow cheapskate!!)

Your closets are so pretty!! And you’re an inspiration to make a small space really work for you. No neat ideas of how to make closet space for from me right now – I need to incorporate your ideas into my closets. :)

I’m a new fan of your blog and I must say, you two are inspirational! (So much so, I tackled our under sink kitchen cabinet last night.) My husband and I are seven years into a restoration of a Victorian row house in northern VA. It’s wonderful to have you as a new resource for ideas and motivation. You two have fantastic ideas and achieve such a high-end look for minimal investment. Kudos to you!

I have a suggestion for the bottom of your closet… Keep a plastic bin down there just for clothes that your daughter will outgrow. I found that to be the most challenging thing to keep orderly and uncluttered, because kids cycle through clothes CONSTANTLY. It was nice to just have a bin for that purpose. Then when the bin was full or my kids moved up to the next size, it was easy to move everything to longer term storage.

Both of our closets have smaller doors and a lot of space inside that we couldn’t quite reach. We took out the long bars and installed 2 rods on each side of the closet that sort of made a mini walk-in closet. My husband has 2 rods on his side and I have 2 rods on my side. Now we can see everything when we step inside our closet and there is no wasted space! We also put up a tie holder on the back wall for my husband’s ties so that space is being used too.

our master BR closet is long and narrow. we could only do shelving/rods down each side (like a galley kitchen). it left a small bit of wall at the end. so i installed a small pc of pegboard – about 24″ wide x 36″ tall. i hang all of my necklaces, scarves and small handbags on it.

When we were planning our babies room, we added some wire shelving and I bought tons of canvas bins (the ones that are square). They are really deep so they were great for extra towels, blankets and clothes that were too big for her still. We also had some that would hold her clothes for Newborn-3 Months and so on so it made changing time really easy and fast! Especially for her dad lol!

Another good tip if you want some more storage ideas for the dresser is to pick up the sock container or dresser storage containers from IKEA. You can curl tiny socks up or onesies and it makes the drawers nice and neat! :)

This little closet is so cute and cheery! Wanna come do mine next? Hmm as far as what I do to keep my closet organized, I have a hanging bar (from Wal-Mart I think) that adds instant storage by creating another bar below the first row of clothes. I originally got it when I lived in the dorms in college (such small closets!) and it has traveled with me to many locales. Such a good investment!

CDing is cloth diapering, and prefolds are the little inserts that you slip into some of them. The main ones we’ll be using actually don’t take prefolds but we have some of those on hand just in case. We’re excited that we landed on BumGenius organic all-in-ones with snaps as our main go-to cloth diaper (which have a built in prefold). They’re also one size fits all, so we should really get a ton of use out of them for the bean (and even future kids afterwards). They say you can save up to 3K per child with cloth diapers alone! And you know we like to save our pennies…

Nope, there’s no light in the closet, but thanks to pulling the curtain back it gets some nice light from the room. I guess if we ever really needed more light in there we could pick up one of those battery operated tap lights as a quick fix. So far so good though…

I can’t tell by the curtain, but did y’all fill the hinge holes in your door frame? We have taken several doors off in my house, and we are left with these ugly hinge holes (on a frame last painted in the ’80’s). Any input?

Yup, we just used some putty and painted right over the holes. But we can always chip that stuff out if we want to hang that door again down the line (I don’t know why we would though, since it constantly hits the main door of the room- design flaw!).

We use an ikea billy shelf that was originally intended for cds in our bathroom because there is absolutely no other space for any other solution and it holds all that we need.
And for the rest of the apartment: since we only have 2 big closets we have to put everything in there meaning there is a lot of stuff that needs to be stashed. But I am not going to spend a fortune on coordinating boxes! So instead I recycle the cardboard boxes that come when I order online. I just have to glue wrapping paper on them and put a little bit of see-through tape on the edges. Sometimes when I see a pretty pattern online that goes with the color of a box, I print it and put it on the box.
Some of those boxes are now several years old and I get to use what I already have at home instead of having to buy it :)
And I think that everyone knows this but I am writing it down anyway: I also liked the size of their boards made out of cork but not the look. So I upholstered it with fabric (just some staples in the back) that went with the colors in the room. Easy to pin messages to and nice looking :)

I see lots of diapers (disposable or cloth) in that second shoe organizer…in lieu of the one that hang on the sides of the cribs or changing tables. I never had luck with those…they were too hard to get in and our of and they were always in the way hanging on the crib. Also once the kiddos start walking around that’s the first thing they go after and you spend all your time picking up diapers…lol Such a cute nursery :D

oh yeah…btw…another great use for those shoe organizers is to hang them in a linen closet or laundry room. I store extra rolls of paper towels, tissue boxes and toilet paper in one. Previously when I had a hall closet…I used one of these shoe organizers. One cubbie held my purse, one was for small folded umbrellas, one for tote bags and one for recycled paper bags…even my DH uses them because he likes that he can see whats in the cubbies…hope this helps…your friend might want them back now…lol :D

So cute! Love seeing all those adorable baby girl clothes hanging up . . .
Last Friday my mom helped me go through all my daughter’s clothes, and we ended up with two whole garbage bags full of things for her soon-to-arrive baby brother! (Plus two bags of blankets, sheet protectors, burp cloths and such.) Sophia wore lots of white onsies under things, and had a bunch of green and yellow pajamas, so I had more than I thought I did for our little guy. Hope you’re staying comfortable. I’m definitely not!

Great closet. Those Ikea shoe organizers are great. I have two of them in my front hall closet and use them to store hats, mitts, scarves, skipping ropes and shoes too. We keep everything for my two little girls in the lower cubbies so that they can reach them and try to get dressed themselves.

I agree with Melanie about the bin for outgrown clothes. I also have two baskets on the top shelf of my daughter’s closet for clothes she does not quite fit into yet (like shorts, shirts, pjs, etc… it’s easier to keep “too big” clothes out of hubby’s immediate vicinity when he dresses her!). She has a door on her closet, so I bought one of those clear plastic hanging shoe bag thingies (with multiple pockets) to put her shoes in… as well as hats, mittens, etc. Works out great and I can see what is in each pocket.

You always do wonderful things. Thanks for inspiring us all. As you already noted, you may find you don’t need much hanging space for little bean’s clothes. Also, first shoes will probably be little leather Robez type shoes. My kids are toddlers even now, it isn’t practical from a time stand point to hang a lot of it. Seperate baskets for things is very helpful, which you guys generally have mastered! Do you have a hook somewhere for the babies towel? I suspect you will get a cute hoodie one from someone if you haven’t already.

Haha, I was just about to come here and post about a bin for outgrown clothes and another bin for clothing the next size up, but I see other posters have already beat me to it! Of course you can store too-big clothing elsewhere in the house, but this way it’s right there the morning you discover that the pants are too short (and it does seem to happen overnight). I keep a small laundry basket in the closet and toss in outgrown clothes as necessary, and then when the basket is full I pack it into Rubbermaids for longer-term storage for Baby #2.

Love it! You all always do a great job. Makes me want to overhaul my munchkin’s closet…but I think I should first finish the 5 rooms I’ve started painting and the kitchen remodel that is in progress. :)

The closet looks fantastic, so cute with all those little onsies hung up….

I use a lot of cardboard boxes, I get some big, heavy duty boxes from work where they buy snacks from Costco, like big Goldfish or Granola Bar boxes and I recovered them with fabric and modge podge and use them on my open IKEA shelving, its so much fun to interchange patterns and when I want to change the look I can just recover them right over the top. I use a heavier duct material, usually from Walmart, so cheap. they look fantastic, great for hiding storage yet making the shelves look sleek and not messy.

Do your squats. In fact, practice holding something in your secondary (not your writing side) arm, (pretend it’s a baby), and keeping your back straight, bend down with your legs and get one of those rolled up blankies. Repeat repeatedly. You’ll thank me, and your back will too.

Speaking of blankies, make sure that you have a nice big SQUARE blanket on hand for swaddling. Rectangular blankets are not effective.